badtransam97

Current EMS helo pilot here. I'm SERIOUSLY looking at jumping ship to a regional within the next few months. I started out about 15yrs ago with a ppl airplane, and worked and saved cash along the way to add ratings. Looked at going airline way back when, but that was during the age 65 deal and things were VERY stagnant, and the market didn't look good at all. So, I looked into helo schools, found one that guaranteed a CFI position when finished, and headed out!
Helicopter flying has been good to me, I was fortunate enough to time it just right and landed some decent opportunities to build turbine time quickly. My current gig is topped out at about 65k a year, and I won't see any significant rise in that for the rest of my career, unless I went to the gulf. The schedule is cake though, work 7days on 7 days off, 12hr shifts. The work IS dangerous, there is really no lax time when flying, and the helicopter is inherently unstable. We do have autopilot, which helps somewhat.
My biggest reason for looking at leaving RW, is :
1) Money- I know I'm looking at giving up half my current pay to go to regional FO job, but once I make capt, it'll just go up from there. I feel like I'm leaving a lot of money on the table If I pass up the chance.
2) Timing- I am 32, and from what I can gather, I probably won't see
another hiring wave like this in my career. If I do, I'll be too old to really take advantage of it.
3) Safety- It's not secret the HEMS industry has a horrible safety record, and a lot of it is pilot error, but flying into some of the places we go, it's very easy to get behind the curve. I feel like in FW, you are always going into an airport, usually well lit, and with the help of an instrument approach if need be.
I hope this helps, I'm sure some in here will think that I'm crazy, and I may well be, but those are my thoughts on the different types of flying. Feel free to ask any questions pertaining to helos if you want.